Slide holder

ABSTRACT

A slide holder for storing and/or transporting a stack of slides is generally box shaped with one open side. Two opposed sides have resilient pads mounted thereon to form spaced slide gripping members positionable on opposite sides of an assembled group of slides. The gripping members are movable toward and away from each other for selectively gripping and releasing the slides. The top wall connecting the gripping members forms snap action, overcenter spring means having a first stable condition for simultaneously urging the members toward each other to the slides and a second stable condition for simultaneously urging the members away from each other to release the slides. The slide holder may be used to transport a stack of slides from a storage container to the magazine of a slide projector.

United States Patent [191 Eckerdt et al.

[ 1 Jan. 23, 1973 SLIDE HOLDER [75] Inventors: George H. Eckerdt;William P.

Ewald, both of Rochester, N.Y.

[51] Int. Cl. ..A44b 21/00, 565d 85/46, B660 1/10 [58] Field of Search....206/62 R; 294/87 R; 353/103; 24/81 FC, 263 PC, 263 PJ, 263 SB [56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,268,919 6/1918 Bleile ..294/87R 2,487,040 11/1949 Bilodeau.... ....294/87 R 3,552,846 1/1971 Hansen..353/103 Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin Attorney-W. H. J. Kline etal.

[57 ABSTRACT A slide holder for storing and/or transporting a stack ofslides is generally box shaped with one open side. Two opposed sideshave resilient pads mounted thereon to form spaced slide grippingmembers positionable on opposite sides of an assembled group of slides.The gripping members are movable toward and away from each other forselectively gripping and releasing the slides. The top wall connectingthe gripping members forms snap action, overcenter spring means having afirst stable condition for simultaneously urging the members toward eachother to the slides and a second stable condition for simultaneouslyurging the members away from each other to release the slides. The slideholder may be used to transport a stack of slides from a storagecontainer to the magazine of a slide projector.

12 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAH 23 I975 SHEET 1 BF 2 GEORGE H.ECKERDT WlLLlAM P. EWALD PATENTEUJAN 23 I915 SHEET 2 BF 2 GEORGE H.ECKERDT WILLIAM F. EWALD BY V //W suns HOLDER BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a slideholder which may be releasably connected to a group of photographicslides or transparency mounts to facilitate handling of the slides in agroup.

2. Description of the Prior Art Slide projectors having means forsupporting a plurality of slides and for transporting one slide at atime in an automatic or semi-automatic manner to and from a projectionstation are well known in the art. In many such projectors, the slidesare loaded into a rotary magazine while in other projectors the slidesare assembled in groups in face to face relationship. Coassigned U.S.Pat. No. 3,427,739 entitled COMBINED TOP LOAD STACK SLIDE ADAPTER ANDPROJEC- TOR, which issued Feb. 18, 1969 to Herbert T. Robinson, shows anadapter for converting a projector of the former type to one of thelatter type.

Slides are normally returned from a processor in boxes which may be usedfor storage after the slides are arranged in a desired sequence. Whenshowing slides so stored by a projector having a magazine which acceptsslides in groups of this type, it is advantageous to be able to transferthe slides directly from the storage box to the magazine, a function towhich the slide holder of the present invention is particularly suited.

Other apparatus has been suggested in the prior art for transferringassembled slides from a storage container to a projector magazine. Onesuch apparatus is shown in coassigned US. Pat. No. 2,698,765 entitledMAGAZINE CLIP FOR TRANSPARENCIES, which issued Jan. 4, 1955 to John H.Eagle. In the magazine clip disclosed in that patent, the slides aregripped between a pair of plates which are urged toward each other by atension spring. To release the grip, a pair of members are mutuallymoved toward each other to stretch the spring and move the plates awayfrom each other. Because the clip does not have a stable open condition,the plates will again grip the slides as soon as the members arereleased, the magazine clip must be removed from the slides during theprojection operation. A slide clip which can remain with the slidesduring projection is shown in coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,846entitled SLIDE STACK HANDLING SYSTEM FOR PROJECTORS, issued Jan. 5, 1971to David E. Hansen. The gripping force of the Hansen clip is relieved byspecial structure on the projector, thus substantially preventing use ofthe clip except in conjunction with a projector designed specificallyfor that cli Canadian Pat. No. 763,785 entitled METHOD AND MEANS FORSLIDE STORAGE AND HANDLING, which issued July 25, 1967 to Carl H.Wiklund, shows a slide clip for transferring slides from a storage trayto a projector magazine in which the slides may be gripped between apair of arms which are spring urged apart. The arms may be moved towardeach other against the spring force by a toggle-like lever to grasp theslides. In one position, the lever permits the spring force to releasethe slides, while in a second position, the lever pulls the two slidegripping arms towards one another to releasably retain the slidestherebetween. While the operation of the Wiklund mechanism appears to besuitable for its intended purpose, the device is constructed with alarge number of parts which must be assembled at what obviously would begreater cost than the manufacturing cost of the slide holder of thepresent invention. Further, it will become apparent that operation ofthe Wiklund slide clip requires more manual dexterity than the operationof the slide holder of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide an inexpensive, easily operable slide holder of simpleconstruction for releasably gripping a plurality of slides to assist inthe handling thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a slide holderhaving slide retaining members movable between stable slide retainingpositions and slide releasing positions by overcenter spring means.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such aslide holder with overcenter spring means effective to optimize (l) theamount of movement of the slide retaining members, (2) the requiredforce to move the slide retaining members and (3) the durability of theslide holder, while at the same time providing for positive operation ofthe overcenter spring means (i.e. the spring means will have only twostable conditions and will not be stable in any intermediate positions.)

In accordance with the above objects, a preferred embodiment of theslide holder of the present invention is formed of a sheet of flexiblematerial having a generally boxlike configuration with one open side, agenerally rectangular upper plate and four depending legs each attachedonly to the upper plate. The upper plate has two parallel slots and theregion between the slots is stretched to form a bowed area which acts asan overcenter spring having two stable conditions to, in one condition,urge two of the depending legs toward each other and, in the othercondition, to urge those depending legs away from each other.

The invention, and its objects and advantages, will become more apparentin the detailed description of the preferred embodiment presented below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the detailed description of thepreferred embodiment of the invention presented below, reference is madeto the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the slide holder of the presentinvention shown with a group of slides held therein;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and furthershowing a portion of a slide projector and adapter for receiving slidesheld in the holder of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the slide projector, adapter and slideholder of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a section view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The slide holder of the presentinvention provides a convenient means for handling a stack of slides andfor moving the stack from a storage container to the slide magazine of aprojector or similar device and then back to the storage container. Whenused in conjunction with a projector having a magazine as shown in U.S.Pat. No. 3,427,739, the holder may be left on the slides as they arebeing indexed through the magazine. The holder securely holds the slideswhile they are being moved between thestorage container and theprojector, is easily releasable to remove the slides therefrom and isreadily actuated to re-engage the slides to move them back to thestorage container after projection.

Referring to FIG. 1, the slide holder of the illustrated embodiment ofthe present invention is formed of a sheet of resilient, incompressiblematerial such as steel. The sheet is bent along lines a, b, c and d toform a generally boxshaped configuration having one open side opposite agenerally rectangular upper plate 12 and four side wall members 14, 16,18 and 20 which depend from the edges of upper plate 12. While thedimension of upper plate 12 in a direction parallel to bends a and c isapproximately determined by the width of the slides which make up astack 22, the upper plates dimension in a direction parallel to bends band d can be chosen to correspond to the maximum number of slides to bepositioned in the holder.

A pair of slots 24 and 26 have been provided in plate 12. The slots areparallel to bends a and c and have enlarged, rounded ends to preventfatigue failure. Between the slots, a central portion 28 has beenstretched so that, as can be seen best in FIG. 2, central portion 28 isbowed. Four other slots 30, 32, 34 and 36 have been provided along bendsa and c so that upper plate 12 may be flexed in the regions close tobends b and d as will be explained hereinafter.

Referring still to FIG. 2, bowed portion 28 acts as an overcenter springhaving two stable conditions, one of which is shown in full line in thatfigure while the other is shown in phantom line. In the full linecondition, i.e. where bowed member 28 is above the plane of upper plate12 and the axis of curvature of the bow is below plate 12, the two edgesof plate 12 near bends b and d are curved downwardly by the spring forceof the bow (this is permitted by slots 30, 32, 34 and 36) so that slidegripping members 14 and 18 are moved to active positions clamping thegroup of slides therebetween, resilient pads 38 and 40 being provided tohelp grip the slides. When moved to the phantom line position below theplane of plate 12 so that the axis of curvature of the bow is above theplate, the bowed portion causes a slight bending of these edges of upperplate 12 so that slide gripping members 14 and 18 are moved outwardly torelease the slide group. Central portion 28 is moved from its full lineto its phantom line position bypressing downwardly on the central regionof the bow, and is moved to its full line position from its phantom lineposition by pressing inwardly on gripping members 14 and 18.

To move the bowed member to its phantom line position, itmust be pushedto a position below the plane of upper plate 12. If the top edges of theslides were in immediate contact with the bottom surface of plate 12,the slides would prevent such movement of the bowed member to a positionbelow plate 12. Therefore, we have provided means for spacing the topedges of the slides from the upper plate. In the preferred embodiment,this spacing means is a depression 42 and 44 in the plate in the regionof each of the junctions between the bowed member and the plate.However, other means suitable for this purpose will readily occur tothose skilled in the art.

It is desirable to minimize the amount of force required to move bowedportion 28 between its raised, full line position, and its lowered,phantom line position while maximizing the amount of movement of slidegripping members 14 and 18. The material of the bowed member will rippleas the bowed member passes the plane of plate 12. Therefore, slots 46have been provided in the bowed member to accommodate this ripple byweakening the material. The slots may be formed in many patterns, thepattern shown is preferred for the following reasons. If slot 46 wereparallel, running in a direction from bend b to bend d, the ripple wouldbe accommodated along the length of the slots. By forming the slots onan angle, less force is required to move the bowed portion past plate 12because the ripples can then cause a twisting of the material betweenthe slots, less force being required to twist the metal than to rippleit. We have constructed experimental models of the slide holder whereinthe slots were arranged in two parallel rows as shown, but with all ofthe slots in each row parallel to each other and converging with theslots of the other row toward bend a. It was found that more force wasrequired to open the slide so constructed if the operator depressed thebowed portion at point e than was required if point f were depressed.Although the reason for this result has not been fully investigated, itis believed that more twisting of the metal between the slots results ifthe bow is depressed at a point approximately on a perpendicular to thedirection of the slots. Therefore, in the preferred embodiment, theslots are arranged in opposed directions so that a force appliedanywhere along the bowed portion will be on a perpendicular to at leastsome of the slots.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the illustrated embodiment of the slide holder on agroup of slides which are positioned in a top load stack slide adapteron a slide projector having automatic slide changing capabilities. Theprojector and the adapter will not be described in detail herein, itbeing sufficient to point out that they are identical to the projectorand the top .load stack slide adapter which are shown in hereinbeforementioned, coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,739..

The slide stack is removed from a storage container by placing the slideholder over the stack in its open condition. The holder is then closedby squeezing members l4 and 18 together, and the slide stack can then betransferred to the projectors magazine as a group. When the slides areplaced in the magazine, top bowed portion 28 is depressed to move slidegripping members 14 and 18 to their inactive positions releasing theslides. Side wall member 20 is positioned between the last slide of thegroup and a slide pressure plate 48 of the adapter so that the slideholder will be moved by the pressure plate along with the group ofslides. The slides are sequentially removed from the stack forprojection as described in the Robinson patent and are returned to thestack. FIG. 4 shows the position of the slide holder and a stack ofslides in full line before projection and further shows the slide holderand slides in phantom line after five slides have been returned to thestack and one slide is being returned. After the last slide has beenprojected and returned to the magazine, the operator may close the slideholder by manually moving slide gripping members 14 and 18 toward eachother (toward their active positions) and thereby causing bowed member28 to move to its raised position. The slides may now be removed fromthe adapter and returned to the storage container by lifting the slideholder.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference topreferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variationsand modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of theinvention.

We claim:

1. A slide holder for receiving and releasably holding a stack ofslides, said holder comprising:

a pair of spaced slide gripping members adapted to be positioned onopposite sides of a stack of slides, at least one of said grippingmembers being movable (1) toward the other member to grip the slidestack and (2) away from the other member to release the slide stack; and

overcenter spring means operatively connected to said one grippingmember and having a first stable condition for urging said one membertoward said other member and a second stable condition for urging saidone member away from said other member.

2. A slide holder as defined in claim 1 further comprising meansinterconnecting said spring means and said one gripping member for (l)placing said spring means in its second stable condition when said onegripping member is moved toward said other member and (2) moving saidone gripping member away from said other member when said spring meansis placed in its first stable condition.

3. A slide holder for receiving and releasably holding a stack ofslides, said slide holder comprising:

a plate having two spaced, parallel edges;

a first member connected to said plate along one of said edges and asecond member connected to said plate along another of said edges, saidfirst and second members (1) extending to one side of said plate indirections generally perpendicular to portions said plate near said oneand other edges, respectively, and (2) being adapted to be positioned onopposite sides of a stack of slides; and

overcenter spring means operatively connected to said plate and having(1) a first stable condition bending the portions of said plate nearsaid edges toward said one side of said plate for causing said membersto move toward each other to grip the stack of slides therebetween and(2) a second stable condition bending the portions of said plate nearsaid edges away from said one side of said plate for causing saidmembers to move away from each other to release the stack of slidestherebetween.

4. A slide holder for receiving and releasably holding a stack ofslides, said slide holder comprising:

a flexible plate having (1) two spaced, parallel edges and (2) a regioncurved about an axis parallel to said edges and movable from one side tothe other side of a plane defined by said edges so as to flex saidplate; and

a first member extending generally perpendicularly from at least oneside of said plate at one of said edges and a second member extendinggenerally perpendicularly from at least said one side of said plate atthe other of said edges, said members being adapted to be positioned onopposite sides of a stack of slides located adjacent said one side ofsaid plate, whereby said members are moved (1) toward each other to gripthe slides when the axis of curvature of said region is on said one sideof said plate and (2) away from each other to release the slides whenthe axis of curvature of said region is on the other side of said plate.

5. A slide holder for receiving and releasably holding a stack ofslides, said slide holder comprising a sheet of resilient material, saidsheet:

being bent along two parallel, spaced lines to form a generally U-shapedconfiguration in cross-section along a plane perpendicular to saidlines; including a generally rectangular plate having two opposed edgescoinciding with said bends to form the base of the U-shapedconfiguration, said plate (1) defining a 'pair of spaced slots eachextending in a direction perpendicular to said opposed edges and (2)including a region between said slots which is curved about an axisparallel to said edges, whereby said region will form a bow movable fromone side to the other side of a plane defined by said edges so as toflex said plate;

including first and second side wall members depending generallyperpendicularly to said plate from one and the other of said opposededges, respectively, to form the legs of the U-shaped configuration,whereby said side wall members will be moved toward each other to grip astack of slides therebetween by the flexure of said plate when said bowis moved to one side of said plate and will be moved away from eachother by the flexure of said plate to release the stack of slidestherebetween when said bow is moved to the other side of said plate.

6. A slide holder as defined in claim 5 further comprising means on saidplate for spacing said plate from the stack of slides received betweensaid side wall members.

7. A slide holder as defined in claim 6 wherein said spacing meanscomprises at least one raised portion on the surface of said plate fromwhich said side wall members depend.

8. A slide holder as defined in claim 6 wherein said spacing meanscomprises a pair of raised portions on the surface of said plate fromwhich said side wall members depend, one of said raised portionsextending between a first end of each of said slots and the other ofsaid raised portions extending between a second end of each of saidslots.

9. A slide holder as defined in claim 5 further comprising meansdefining a plurality of slots in said region of said sheet to permit thesheet to ripple in said region as the bow formed thereby is moved fromone side to the other side of the plane defined by said edges.

10. A slide holder as defined in claim 9 wherein said slots in saidregion are elongated and extend at an angle to said edges.

l l. A slide holder as defined in claim 10 wherein said angle issubstantially different than ninety degrees.

12. A slide holder as defined in claim 11 wherein approximately half ofsaid slots in said region extend in a direction approximately at rightangles to the direction 5 in which the other slots extend.

1. A slide holder for receiving and releasably holding a stack ofslides, said holder comprising: a pair of spaced slide gripping membersadapted to be positioned on opposite sides of a stack of slides, atleast one of said gripping members being movable (1) toward the othermember to grip the slide stack and (2) away from the other member torelease the slide stack; and overcenter spring means operativelyconnected to said one gripping member and having a first stablecondition for urging said one member toward said other member and asecond stable condition for urging said one member away from said othermember.
 2. A slide holder as defined in claim 1 further comprising meansinterconnecting said spring means and said one gripping member for (1)placing said spring means in its second stable condition when said onegripping member is moved toward said other member and (2) moving saidone gripping member away from said other member when said spring meansis placed in its first stable condition.
 3. A slide holder for receivingand releasably holding a stack of slides, said slide holder comprising:a plate having two spaced, parallel edges; a first member connected tosaid plate along one of said edges and a second member connected to saidplate along another of said edges, said first and second members (1)extending to one side of said plate in directions generallyperpendicular to portions said plate near said one and other edges,respectively, and (2) being adapted to be positioned on opposite sidesof a stack of slides; and overcenter spring means operatively connectedto said plate and having (1) a first stable condition bending theportions of said plate near said edges toward said one side of saidplate for causing said members to move toward each other to grip thestack of slides therebetween and (2) a second stable condition bendingthe portions of said plate near said edges away from said one side ofsaid plate for causing said members to move away from each other torelease the stack of slides therebetween.
 4. A slide holder forreceiving and releasably holding a stack of slides, said slide holdercomprising: a flexible plate having (1) two spaced, parallel edges and(2) a region curved about an axis parallel to said edges and movablefrom one side to the other side of a plane defined by said edges so asto flex said plate; and a first member extending generallyperpendicularly from at least one side of said plate at one of saidedges and a second member extending generally perpendicularly from atleast said one side of said plate at the other of said edges, saidmembers being adapted to be positioned on opposite sides of a stack ofslides located adjacent said one side of said plate, whereby saidmembers are moved (1) toward each other to grip the slides when the axisof curvature of said region is on said one side of said plate and (2)away from each other to release the slides when the axis of curvature ofsaid region is on the other side of said plate.
 5. A slide holder forreceiving and releasably holding a stack of slides, said slide holdercomprising a sheet of resilient material, said sheet: being bent alongtwo parallel, spaced lines to form a generally U-shaped configuration incross-section along a plane perpendicular to said lines; including agenerally rectangular plate having two opposed edges coinciding withsaid bends to form the base of the U-shaped configuration, said plate(1) defining a pair of spaced slots each extending in a directionperpendicular to said opposed edges and (2) including a region betweensaid slots which is curved about an axis parallel to said edges, wherebysaid region will form a bow movable from one side to the other side of aplane defined by said edges so as to flex said plate; including firstand second side wall members depending generally perpendicularly to saidplate from one and the other of said opposed edges, respectively, toform the legs of the U-shaped configuration, whereby said side wallmembers will be moved toward each other to grip a stack of slidestherebetween by the flexure of said plate when said bow is moved to oneside of said plate and will be moved away from each other by the flexureof said plate to release the stack of slides therebetween when said bowis moved to the other side of said plate.
 6. A slide holder as definedin claim 5 further comprising means on said plate for spacing said platefrom the stack of slideS received between said side wall members.
 7. Aslide holder as defined in claim 6 wherein said spacing means comprisesat least one raised portion on the surface of said plate from which saidside wall members depend.
 8. A slide holder as defined in claim 6wherein said spacing means comprises a pair of raised portions on thesurface of said plate from which said side wall members depend, one ofsaid raised portions extending between a first end of each of said slotsand the other of said raised portions extending between a second end ofeach of said slots.
 9. A slide holder as defined in claim 5 furthercomprising means defining a plurality of slots in said region of saidsheet to permit the sheet to ripple in said region as the bow formedthereby is moved from one side to the other side of the plane defined bysaid edges.
 10. A slide holder as defined in claim 9 wherein said slotsin said region are elongated and extend at an angle to said edges.
 11. Aslide holder as defined in claim 10 wherein said angle is substantiallydifferent than ninety degrees.
 12. A slide holder as defined in claim 11wherein approximately half of said slots in said region extend in adirection approximately at right angles to the direction in which theother slots extend.